“Orange Crush” is Norwegian based artist Karl Endreson, and “The Fields” is his first release. For a first release, The Fields sounds incredibly polished, is instantly memorable and represents a stunning achievement for Karl and Archaic Horizon , the label on which “The Fields” was released.

This full length album effortlessly switches from soothing downtempo tracks to beatless, atmospheric soundscapes and the sonic “palette” Orange Crush employs from song to song is rich and varied. It never sounds monotonous or repetitive, and the listener feels as if he/she is visiting an imaginary house with many different rooms. “Across the Breeze”, one of the ‘beatless’ tracks, combines a field recording with a heavily reverbed synth and the result is perfect to watch a sunset to. “Adrift” is also another of those ‘beatless’ tracks which I really liked in this release. Among the downtempo tracks, “Slow Dream” and “Sky Signal” are the standouts, and the funny thing is that the two are almost diametric opposites of each other - “Slow Dream” which is really melancholy, and “Sky Signal” which is one of the more uplifting tracks in the release.

However I do have one gripe. Its that too many of the tracks are very similar to those made by Boards of Canada (the same detuned analogue synths and mid tempo hip-hop beats) and I hope that while still being influenced by the Scottish duo, Karl can make more tracks that bear his own individual style, like the excellent closing tracks - “Neon Dreams” and “Camber Rye”

Netlabel: Archaic Horizon